The disclosures herein related generally to dental implants and more particularly to a tool for retaining and delivering implant components to a dental implant at an implant site.
The surgical process of dental implant placement includes a bone preparation process including an incision to expose that portion of bone to receive the implant. Progressive drilling and alignment procedures prepare an implant bed in the bone for proper implant sizing and implant placement. The incision is closed and a healing period follows.
When satisfactory healing is confirmed, the top of the implant is exposed and a temporary gingival cuff is attached to the implant for the purpose of contouring the surrounding soft tissue to coincide with the implant components to be subsequently attached to the implant.
There are several concerns related to attaching the implant components. First, space limitations within the month are of concern especially when a single implant is positioned between adjacent natural teeth. These space limitations require tools which are of a suitable size for manipulation in confined spaces. Component retention and delivery to the implant site are critical because the small components are easily dropped, and if dropped in the patient's mouth, can be easily swallowed or aspirated. Because the prosthetic components are often sterilized, and should remain sterile during implantation, a dropped component requires re-sterilization. In addition, the sterile requirements limit the freedom of unprotected manual handling of the components.
Various component delivery techniques have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,690 discloses a driver for screws, bolts and the like which have a socket for receiving the bit of a driver, in which a tapered holding section between the bit and the shaft of the drivers serves to hold an article by frictional engagement with the opening edge of the socket when the bit is engaged in the socket for turning the article. The bit is shorter than the depth of the socket, and the holding section expands sufficiently away from the bit so as to make frictional contact with the edge of the socket when the bit is engaged in the socket.
U.S. Pat. No., 5,690,489 discloses a self-locking cylindrical driver to deliver and assemble internally hexed prosthetic components such as screws and abutments into place. The head of the tool engages and locks with the flat side surfaces of the internally hexed prosthetic component. The tool allows for extra-oral assembly of a component with the tool to minimize any risk of a component falling off or being lost in a patient's mouth during delivery of the component. Final seating of the component is then accomplished using a conventional hexagonal drive tool with appropriate delivery torque. The tool is formed into both a standard hand driven wrench and a contra-angle drill.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,550 discloses a tool for affixing a component to a dental implant fixture with a screw passing through the component and threaded into the implant fixture. The tool has two parts telescopically interfitting one within the other, the outer part being tubular for carrying the component at one end, and the inner part fitted at one end for carrying the screw positioned within the component. The component, and the screw within it, can be carried together to the implant fixture where the outer part is used to hold the component in place while the inner part is used to drive the screw into the implant fixture.
A limitation of previous delivery systems is that the various implant components cannot all be delivered and attached by a single versatile tool. Therefore, what is needed is a versatile tool which can engage, retain, deliver and at least initially engage the various components with the implant.